• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
TechFortune 500

Amazon’s Latest Software Can Identify Celebrities, Even Jeff Bezos

Barb Darrow
By
Barb Darrow
Barb Darrow
Down Arrow Button Icon
Barb Darrow
By
Barb Darrow
Barb Darrow
Down Arrow Button Icon
June 8, 2017, 6:35 PM ET

In news that may either delight you or creep you out, Amazon Web Services has updated its image recognition software to identify celebrities including Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos and presumably Jennifer Lawrence or any number of actors listed in the Internet Movie Database.

Image recognition is a key subset of artificial intelligence that, as the name implies, can tell what, and increasingly who, is in a photograph. And, it is a key battleground for Microsoft (MSFT), Google (GOOG), Facebook, and Amazon.

Related: Microsoft Takes Aim at Google, Facebook With New Recognition Tool

The latest is that Amazon (AMZN) Rekognition software, which debuted last fall, has been updated so it can identify hundreds of thousands of famous or prominent people including politicians, athletes, actors, and business and media leaders from around the world, according to a company blog post.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s daily technology newsletter.

Developers can use this tool to add image recognition to their own software. The first version could determine if a picture was of a human face and, within a high probability, identify that person’s gender, whether he or she was wearing glasses, was smiling, and other key characteristics. What it did not do is specifically tell you who that person may be. Amazon has now raised the stakes so the software can identify the individual, provided that person is well known.

Related: Amazon Snaps Up Image Recognition Startup

Developers can use Rekognition to analyze and index their own photo archives and to develop image search tools, according to the blog.

Image recognition could theoretically be used, in an interactive retail display to tell if someone standing nearby is a man or a woman and adjust the sales pitch accordingly. But as the technology gets better at identifying actual individuals, who knows where it will end up. Facebook (FB), for example, can now identify people in pictures even if they are not tagged with the person’s name.

Related: Google Says Its Face Recognition Software is the Best

Companies that deliver smart image recognition can make money applying it to sales, marketing, and security jobs. But some people worry whether software is getting too smart for our own good and see these advances as more an intrusion than progress.

About the Author
Barb Darrow
By Barb Darrow
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Success
  • Tech
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Environment
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Health
  • Retail
  • Lifestyle
  • Politics
  • Newsletters
  • Magazine
  • Features
  • Commentary
  • Mpw
  • CEO Initiative
  • Conferences
  • Personal Finance
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Most Popular

placeholder alt text
Success
In 2026, many employers are ditching merit-based pay bumps in favor of ‘peanut butter raises’
By Emma BurleighFebruary 2, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Politics
Meet the Palm Beach billionaire who paid $2 million for a private White House visit with Trump
By Tristan BoveFebruary 3, 2026
15 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Cybersecurity
Top AI leaders are begging people not to use Moltbook, a social media platform for AI agents: It’s a ‘disaster waiting to happen’
By Eva RoytburgFebruary 2, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Future of Work
‘You’re not a hero, you’re a liability’: Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary warns Gen Z founders to stop glorifying hustle culture
By Jacqueline MunisFebruary 2, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Personal Finance
Current price of silver as of Monday, February 2, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerFebruary 2, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
President Trump just missed a key legal deadline for his spending plans—stoking economists’ fears over the $38.5 trillion national debt
By Eleanor PringleFebruary 3, 2026
19 hours ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.


Latest in Tech

Startups & VentureElon Musk
Nevada legislators blast Boring Company over safety and environmental violations as Elon Musk-owned startup declines to testify in hearing
By Jessica MathewsFebruary 3, 2026
5 hours ago
AIAmazon
Amazon AWS CEO Matt Garman pushes back against Elon Musk’s space data centers plan
By Alexei OreskovicFebruary 3, 2026
8 hours ago
broker
AIMarkets
Oracle defused ‘the key risk going into 2026,’ BofA argues, but the market isn’t buying it
By Nick Lichtenberg and Eva RoytburgFebruary 3, 2026
10 hours ago
Image of Moltbook app logo on a smart phone with another image of the Moltbook logo in the background.
AIEye on AI
Moltbook is scary—but not for the reasons so many headlines said
By Jeremy KahnFebruary 3, 2026
11 hours ago
Aerial image of the first offshore wind farm in the U.S., off the coast of Rhode Island.
EnergyRenewables
Trump hates the way wind farms look. Too bad, America’s court system says
By Tristan BoveFebruary 3, 2026
12 hours ago
Moltbook image.
AIChatbots
In Moltbook hysteria, former top Facebook researcher sees echoes of 2017 panic over bots building a ‘secret language’
By Jeremy KahnFebruary 3, 2026
14 hours ago